Electrical measuring apparatus



April 8, 1930. c. TRAVIS ELECTRICAL MEASURING APPARATUS Filed May 3, 1927 Patented Apr. 8, 1930 CHARLES TRAVIS, on PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA ELECTRICAL MEASURING APPARATUS Application filed May 3, 1927. Serial No. 188,507.

It is the object of the present invention to minimize or to eliminate the errors concomitant with the use of 'galvanometers, the present invention being particularly directed to 5 the elimination of the errors due to the variation of the resistances of the circuits involved arising from the use at various times of external conductors of different resistance, and

from changes in temperature conditions, and 10 of the condition of the various electrical contacts. V

\Vhile the present invention may be applied to any type of galvanometer, it has particular advantages when applied to and combined with galvanometers used in pyrometry for measuring the electromotive forces generated by the thermo couples utilized.

The object and operation of my invention will be understood from the following considerations. I

In the common type of galvanometer or millivoltmeter, where the deflective coil is connected directly across the electromotive force which is to be measured, the current flowing in the deflecting or measuring coil is where E is the magnitude of the unknown E. M. F., and R is the total resistance of the circuit, including the internal resistance of the instrument, the resistance of the leads, and that of the source of the E. M. F.

The deflection of the instrument is proportional to the current C flowing in the instrument and is therefore inversely dependent upon the value of R. But R isvariable, the variation arising chiefly in theexternal circuit and due to variations in the material, 40 diameter, length, and temperature of the lead wires used at diflerent times,.or to variations in the resistance of the source of theE. M. F. and of the electrical contacts and connections. A reater or less error in the indicated value of 1 thereby results.

If the instrument has been calibrated for a total resistance R-H", whereas the actual resistance at another time is R,'the magnitude of the error at such time will be In pyrometry, this error is very troublesome in practice. To reduce it to a sufliciently samll magnitude various expedients are employed all with certain disadvantages. For example, the lead wires may be made with low resistance. This prohibits the use of so called extension leads for carrying the'cold junction of the thermo couple back to the instrument, as such extension leads in practice, are necessarily materials of high specific resistance. Or the internal resistance of the instrument may be made very great. This has the effect of reducing the current flowing in the circuit, and necessitates a corresponding ;SeI1S1tlV1ty1I1 the instrument, which is accompanied by a necessary lack of sturdiness and by a liabilityto mechanical derangement. Or againgthe resistance of the external circuit may be adjusted in each individual case by a system of resistance either shunt or series. This expedient is laborious to carry out, andfurther, the individual adjustments are often lacking in permanence for various 5 reasons.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a system for measuring electromotive vforces in which the errors indicated above are eliminated or reduced to a mini mum.

The above object is accomplished in the present invention by introducing in the circuit an additional sourceof E. M. F. in such a manner that a counter E. M. F. is produced acrossthe terminals of the sourceof unknown E. M. F. equal or approxiately equal and opposite to the unknown E. M. F. whereby the current flowing in the external circuitis correspondingly reduced, and by providing means whereby the introduced counter E. M. F. may be made substantially equal to the magnitude of the unknown E. M. F. for various values of the latterquantity.

The invention will be more readily understood from the appended claims, which set forth the principle of the invention and from the drawing in which- Figure 1 illustrates one embodiment of the invention and Figure 2 another embodiment of the invention. 1 y i Figures 3 and 4C are diagrammatic showings of the theory of operation. 7

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, S

is the coil of a galvanometer, which isp'ref erably of the moving coil or DArsonval type, but which may also be of the moving magnet type of instrument. I prefer to use the direct reading type of instrument which is provided with the pointer M operated by the coil which cooperates'with a scale T.

A is the source of unknown E. M. F., the magnitude of which E is to be determined. T and T are the terminals of the instrument and L and L are the lead wires connecting the source of E. M. F., A to the instrument.

hecoilS is provided witha tap a between its ends, the tap a being joined at y to the secondary circuit-a 6, containing an additional source of E. M. F., A

It will be seen that there are threecircuit paths between jand b, as follows:

Path P indicated by a, (2 containing the portion S of the coil S, and also the source A of E. M. F. and leads L and L N0. of turns in 8 total resistance of P between and b, it is not necessary to provide means to bring about such variation.

In Fi ure 1 is shown a combination of parallel and series resistances in the current path P namely 1 in parallel with coil S T in series with S and 1" in series with the double two circuits P and P in a manner to be herein described, and also, by making these resistances of appropriate magnitude, and of materials of, appropriate temperature coefiicients of resistance, it is possible to cause the bal'anc'e'of the circuits P and P and likewise the reading of the instrument to be independent of the temperature of the instrument. In particular cases any combination of the re- 'sistance r r 1* r 9* 7"; may be omitted.

There are further shown in Figure 1, switches or keys K and K and a variable resistance or rheostat V, the purposes of all of which are described later, and of which any or all may be omitted in particular cases. 7

The magnitude of the several resistances of the circuit, the number of turns in coil S and the number of turns in coil S are to be proportioned that when an E. M. F. is set up between j and b .the currents flowing in coils s 'and S respectively'will produce equal and opposite deflective forces. This may be obtained in the case when resistances 1, and 1" are absent by making No. of turns in S total resistance of P V and if either or bot-h of the resistances 7 and 1"" are present by making N o. of turns in 8; equivalent resistance'of Pi r (1" +r, 1'

No. of turns in S equivalent resistance of P r (r +r r' Path P indicated by a, a containing the portion S of the coil S.

Path P comprising the secondary circuit a containing a source of E. M. F. A

The/function of the source A of E. M. F. is toimpress a diiference of potential between y' and b and it is desirable'that such diiference of potential be variable at will. In Figure 1, one means of producing this variation is shown consisting of a slide wire rein which 1 7" r r are the parallel and series resistances as indicated in Figure 1, and 9 and 11. are the resistances'of coils S andS respectively, and in which the term equivalent resistance is used to indicate the resistance of an equivalent simple circuit. In order that the above condition may obtain for various deflections of the instrument, it is desirable that the turns of S and of S be similarly spaced with respect to the magnetic field, which may be accomplished by bifilar winding. 1

Referring to Figure 1, it is seen that the path P includes the external circuit, which consists of the leads L and L and the source of the unknown E. M. F. A The resistance of the external circuit is ordinarily variable and its magnitude not directly known. The resistance of P is" therefore not ordinarily constant and the; conditions determined by Equation (3) or Equation (4) can in general be made to obtain only approximately. But it will be hereinafter shown that by means of the circuit as described, the error-due to a variation in the resistance of P may be made to vanish when the value of the unknown E. M. F. is equal to a predetermined quan tity, and such error will be very small when the value of the unknown E. M. Eis in the neighborhood of such predetermined quan:

tity. It will be likewiseshownthat in any particular caseit is possible so to compensate for the variation in the resistance of P that.-

Further let it be assumed that the instrument has been calibrated'for a resistance in a P equal not to R but toR +r, which is equivalent to assuming that R diiiers from the value used in calibration by the amount 7. For this to obtain, the number of turns in S and in S will have been so proportioned, and the scale T so divided, that for unit current flowing in S alone, the deflection is 13 scale divisions, and for unit current. in S alone, the deflection is R scale divisions.

Let 0 =the current flowing in P Let 0 =the current flowing in P positive values being assumed when the direction of flow through the coils is from left to right in Figure 1. l hen for the assumed conditions, the deflection D of the instrument or measured value of the unknown E. M. F. will be U (R '+o-) +C' R Also let E true value of the E. M. F. at A The combination'of resistances and E. M;

\ a difference in potential is impressed 'be-' tween a and 1) equal to an estimated value of the unknown E. M. F. Call thisestimated value E and let E+e=E 6 until the instrument indicates a reading Key K is then closed; (K being kept closed throughout) the instrument will now read E l-AE *1. Where AE is the; error. due to 1', the variation in resistance.- Then V Eff-A51 O '(R +r) 0 13 (7) The magnitude of AE is calculated as follows:v

q Rgjl' 2f 2 f E8=- l (s) As the diflerence in potentialbetween j'and b is the same for each of the three circuits P Pg-and P we have I Substituting from (8) and- (9) and solving for and C2 v 1 The reading of the instrument is found by substituting the above values of C and (Lin Equation v(.7), at ,the. same time Writing E 15 76 from Equation (6).

E TAE L he?Rlz 2 3 (13) Mane v l ITEM -4 Equation, (14) shows that AE depends not upon thewhole E. M. F. E but upon a small quantity e,-and can be made to disappear entirely by making e=0. .In the drawing, Figures 3, and t show graphicallythe relationship between .E and AE Figure 3 is the: condition that obtains in a simple millivoltmeter without the circuit P while Figure 4 is the condition that obtains in an instrument as. comprised in my invention. In these two figures abscissas represent values ofE E while ordinates represent values of A 1. I 4

It is apparent that if K is alternately opened and closed while the elements in circuit P are varied until the instrument gives equal readings when K is open and K is closed, 6 becomes zero, and AE disappears.

- a. It is likewise apparent that if e is made of considerable magnitude,-and K is alternately opened and closed while resistance V is adjusteduntil the instrument gives equal readingswhen K is open and when it is closed, 7' becomes equal to zero, and AE disappears for all values of E and E The manner in which the compensating adjustments of the instrument are made will vary with the circumstancesunder which the instrument is used.- Under some conditionsit may be desired to adjust the instrument to its compensated setting prior to the time when the thermocouple A has reached the desired temperature. Under such conditions the deflection of the instrument for the desired tem erlyz compensated andcorrected.

Under other conditions it may be desired to obtain a corrected reading of the then existing temperature, For this purpose the key K is manipulated repeatedly to the open and closed position withone hand while the slide wire contact is manipulated with the other hand until the reading is the same when K is closed or open. 1

The variable resistance V, which may be omitted if desired, may be used for correcting the instrument, by manipulating the key K5 from its closed'to its open position repeatedly while the resistance V is varied until the deflection is the same when the key K is open or closed. This manner of compensation will give the instrument a high degree of accuracy over its entirescale. This method may be combined with a subsequent manipulation as described in the two preceding paragraphs for any specific point on the scale.

When the adjustments are completed as described above the reading are taken with keys K and K closed.

A method of impressing a potential difference between a and b, other than has been previously described, is the following; The source of A of E. may be such that the magnitude of the E. M. F. produced by it is approximately the same as E,;., One way of obtaining this condition is to make A similar to A and subjected to approximately the K and K although keys K and'K may be,

advantageously retained in order to facilitate checking of connections and determining the presence of possible short or open circuits. Y

If an unknown resistance is inserted in P it can be compensated for by an equal and opposite change in V. 1 The principle of the preceding paragraph may therefore be used as the basis of a method of measuring resist-' to variations in resistance.

(2) The possibility of still obtaining (1) even when the instrument is constructed with low internal resistance, whereby the instrument'may be made sturdy and free from the liability to mechanical derangement, and at the same time both sensitive and accurate.

(3) The possibility of employing high resistance leads, as for example the usual extension leads, while still retaining in great part the advantages (1)-'and (2).

(4) The instrument may take the form of a continuous readingdefiection instrument.

(5) The auxiliary resistances and sources of E. M. F. employed in the constructioniof the instrument need not be calibrated or their value directly known. The advantages of the apparatus are thus obtained without the use of a standard cell or of a calibrated slide wire, which makes the construction of the instrument less expensive than if it were necessary to usesuch standard cell or calibrated slide wire.

' I claim: a I r 1. In a pyrometric system, the combination of a thermo couple, a galvanometer having a current carrying coil connected to said thermo couple, and a source of ele'ctromotive force approximately equal to the electromotive force of the thermo couple connected to an intermediate point of said coil and to the thermo couple.

2. In a'pyrometric system the'combination of a thermo couple generating an electromo tive force varying. with the temperature, a

galvanometer having a current carrying coil connected to said thermo couple, and means for impressing a variable electromotive force across aportion of said coil approximately equal to the E. M. F. generated by the thermo couple. a

3. A pyrometric system comprising a thermo couple, a galvanometer having a cur rent carrying coil connected across said thermo couple for measuring the voltage of the thermo couple, a source of electromotive force, means for connecting said source to an intermediate point on said coil and to l the thermo couple comprising a manually operable switch, and another manually operable switch in the connection between thegalvanometer and the thermo couple.

- 4:- A pyrometric system comprising a gal vanometer coil, a pair of thermo-couples each having a negative and a positive terminal, a circuit connection connecting one end of said coil to like terminals of said thermo-couples, a circuit connection between the remaining terminal of one couple and the remaining terminal of the coil, and a circuit connection between an intermediate point on said coil and the remaining terminal of the remaining coup In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification. V 7

CHARLES TRAVIS. 

